


Greaseputtel

by Amrynth



Category: Aschenputtel | Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, Gals being pals, Racing, Same Prompt Party, They're totally gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 16:05:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12193164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amrynth/pseuds/Amrynth
Summary: Haruka wants to race and dance with the Kaiou Racing Team heiress, but how can a Greaseputtel dance with a princess?





	Greaseputtel

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a little silly but a lot of fun to write. My girl pointed me in the direction of the Same Prompt Party Doc Holligay's running this month and here we go. I was fussed it was going to be too long too short and it turned out the perfect length for what it is. It's in the style of Ashputtel (Aschenputtel?), the version of Cinderella from the Grimm's collection (as opposed to the French version with the fairy godmother). Anyway! It's already been requested of me to write a full fic from this so we'll see where I get. As it stands it's a one-shot so enjoy. (PS I'M SORRY FOR MY TERRIBLE RHYMES)

Once upon a time, there was a mechanics shop. It is, perhaps, not the most idyllic of scenes for a fairy tale, but it is where this one starts. The shop was run by a father who loved his daughter very much. Their shop was quite well known though the land as being the place to bring your car or motorcycle; they could make the most stubborn engine purr like a kitten and did not charge as much as any of the nearby shops. 

The man’s daughter was named Haruka. She grew up a bit wild, running with the wind and racing cats through the alleys in the portion of town their shop was located. It was said there was not a place too high for her to climb or too far for her to run. She learned to ride a motorcycle when she learned to walk and had a smile like the sunset. 

Long before she was a teen, Haruka would help with work around the shop, whispering to the motors to clear blocked lines and sweeping away debris with a little bit of wind. She never thought much of these abilities, she was happy to help keep their family business and to work with the engines and father that she loved. 

Once she had become a teen, Haruka’s father thought to marry again. It wasn’t a decision he came by lightly but he thought, perhaps, that his wild daughter needed a womanly influence to fit into society. He had never been able to talk her out of racing with clouds or climbing trees but perhaps a step mother would be able to. As is often the case in tales such as these, he thought wrong. The woman he married, though lovely, was far more in love with the reputation and money she thought would come with a mechanic’s shop like the Tenous had than she was in love with Haruka’s father. She had, as step mothers always do, two daughters, as lovely outside as they were vain and ugly inside. It was hardly their fault, they’d been raised by a woman whose chief occupation was acquiring money and had ceased to mourn their father before either could even remember him. 

Each daughter wanted their share of the money that came from the shop. Wishing to be a good step-father, Haruka’s father gave each of them a job at the wage they wished. Haruka, of course, did not ask for a wage, she was pleased with her work and supported her family. During her off time she would race her motorcycle and then come back to complete the work left undone by her half-siblings. When it was declared their house was too small for all three of the girls to stay there, Haruka was happy to sleep in the back of the mechanic’s shop. This, of course, left her always greasy and dirty so her step-family called her Greaseputtel and thought themselves quite funny. When the Tenou shop was short to pay the bills, due to the low fees Haruka’s father charged and the exorbitant salaries of his two stepchildren, Haruka willingly sold her own racing bike to keep the shop open.

Now it came to the year that the Kaiou Racing Team was looking for a new racer to sponsor. All the racers in the region came to race for the Kaiou team in a festival that would last for three days. Three days, three races. The Tenou shop was busier than it had ever been and Haruka’s step-sisters were far more interested in catching glimpses of handsome racers and of the famously beautiful daughter of the Kaiou family. 

Haruka wanted nothing more than to race, to participate in the festival and maybe race for the Kaiou team and maybe... Winning was important, but going fast, tasting the wind and feeling it in her hair and heart and soul was more important. But with the shop so busy and her siblings conspicuously absent, Haruka had no time to build a new bike or to practice the track that would be used for the festival. 

When she asked her step-mother if she could go to the race, even if it was just to watch from the sidelines, her step-mother laughed and asked what a dirty Greaseputtel would do at a festival but get all the clothes and bikes dirty. When Haruka asked again, because it was easier to ask than to take the catwalks and roofs and slip along with the wind, her step mother picked up a hubcap full of nuts and bolts and tossed them into an open barrel of discarded parts. She told her, with a laugh, that if she could gather all the bolts from the barrel without making a mess by the time she was done putting on her makeup, she could go to the race. 

Haruka looked at the barrel and knew that it would be impossible to get the parts out without making a mess. She would either have to spill the contents everywhere to get the smaller nuts out or she would cut her hands to ribbons on the sharp metal. The metal was heavy enough that nothing but a full tornado would move them and that was sure to be a mess. 

So Haruka peered into the barrel and muttered:

“Cats would have an easier time,  
Sifting through the grease and grime.  
Would that I could stop the clock  
And to the race I’d get to walk.  
Now hither-thither come to me  
Find the parts and set me free.”

And from all parts of the neighborhood came cats that she had run with since their kittenhood; tabbies and black cats, green eyed and gold, to Haruka they ran to assist with sorting the parts and the pieces she needed. What the cats could not reach with darting paw and patience, the mice slipped between metal with nary a scratch. What the mice could not reach the tiny pill bugs unrolled from their sleep and carried bolts upon their back. From where Haruka could not see, a silent silhouette slowed time just enough to allow the impossible task to be done. 

When Haruka presented the hubcap full of collected nuts and bolts (and a single coin, it couldn’t hurt to add that) to her stepmother, she looked at it and tossed it aside without care. She had never intended to permit Haruka to go to the race. She told her that there was no reason a dirty Greaseputtel should go, she had no motorcycle to ride and nothing to wear for the balls afterward. And so Haruka’s stepmother left, leaving Haruka alone in the shop. 

As Haruka did not believe in giving up, she climbed up onto the roof of the shop where she’d raced with the cats and played with the wind. She knew there wasn’t a motorcycle, she knew there was no way she could race but her heart was full of the race and the wind. She told the cats:

“I wish that time would cease to tick  
So that I could some asses kick.”

And the wind whispered to her and the cats knew but Haruka did not know until Pluto was there. So Pluto stopped time, only a little so that she could remain to help. She warned Haruka that she could only stop time three times so she would be wise to use her time well. Haruka knew precisely what to do. From scraps in the shop, the help of the wind and just a bit of luck, she built a motorcycle that she could ride in the race. She bathed, for if she arrived as the little Greaseputtel her family would know her immediately. Without her knowing, Pluto tucked something to wear to the victory ball into her bag while Haruka was flipping her helmet visor down. 

When she got to the race, Haruka won. She raced with the wind and forgot her competitors and though her family saw her, they never knew it was Haruka, they assumed she was at home, sleeping in the grease and dirt. As she raced, Haruka was beautiful in a way that caught the attention of the Kaiou heiress. At the ball after the race, when Haruka wore her tuxedo and white mask, Michiru came up to her and asked her to dance. She danced with her and no one else. When anyone tried to cut in, Michiru fixed them with a cool stare and informed them that this lady was her partner. 

At the strike of midnight, Haruka knew she had to leave if she wished to be home before her family would discover that she had gone to the race and to the ball. And though Michiru offered her a ride, Haruka slipped her helmet on and was gone in the crowd before she could. The Kaiou heiress attempted to follow but Haruka lost her as she raced the wind and raced time to get home. She hid her bike in plain sight and smeared grease on her cheeks and settled in for a well-deserved rest. She had only just relaxed when her family came in, buzzing about the race and the festival and the beautiful heiress. Her father thought, perhaps, his daughter looked happier today than she had in a long time and hoped, just maybe, she had found a way to make it to the race. Her stepmother thought, perhaps, her step daughter looked happier today than she had in a long time and worried, perhaps, she had found a way to make it to the race. But she could find no hint of a bike in the shop, no hint that Haruka was anything but a girl sleeping in a cot in her family’s shop. 

On the next day of the festival, once her family had all gone to the race, Haruka let herself back up to the roof and sat with the cats once more and said:

“I wish that time would cease to tick  
So that I could some asses kick.”

And the wind whispered to her and she knew Pluto had come to stop time again. Pluto warned her, while tucking in dress clothes more elaborate and beautiful than the last, that she could only stop time thrice and she’d already stopped it two times now. Haruka washed the grease from her face and hands and fetched her motorcycle from where she’d hidden it in plain sight amongst the bikes still being worked on in the shop. 

She won the race, completely leaving her competition behind as she raced herself rather than anyone else actually on the track. As before, once she had changed into the tuxedo Pluto had left for her, Haruka was approached by Michiru who asked her to dance. This time Michiru was waiting for her and Haruka was quite certain she’d been waiting for the heiress as well. They danced together and when someone asked to dance with Michiru, Haruka said that this was her dance partner. At the end of the evening, Haruka and Michiru were talking together in the garden when the clock struck midnight again. Though Michiru tried to follow Haruka, the racer was impossible to catch when she moved with the wind. When her family came home, she was once again asleep in her cot in the family shop. Her stepmother attempted to search for a bike or some sign that Haruka had snuck out again but the motorcycle was hidden away in plain sight.

On the final day of the festival, Haruka could hardly wait for her family to leave for the race. Her father winked on his way past and as soon as they were gone she sat with the cats on the roof and said:

“I wish that time would cease to tick  
So that I could some asses kick.”

Pluto came to her aid once more, stopping time to allow Haruka time to wash the grease from her face and hands so that she could go to the race. She reminded her that she could only stop time three times and would no longer be able stop time for her. Haruka retrieved her motorcycle while Pluto tucked a change a clothing into her bag and wished her luck as she rode off to the race.

Haruka won the race, three days in a row. She’d forgotten her competitors again and raced for the chance to see blue eyes and teal hair and a smile and dance together until midnight. The festival would be over soon and it was the last chance they would have to dance together. And they did, dance together that is. No one bothered trying to cut in, there was no space for words between them. At the stroke of twelve Haruka fled once again but was in such a rush to go that she dropped her racing glove upon the stairs. 

Michiru found the glove and took it to her father and told him she’d found the racer they were going to sponsor. Well, she’d lost her but she’d find her again. Soon it became common knowledge that Kaiou racing would be sponsoring whoever fit the glove. Haruka’s sisters were delighted to hear this because they had beautiful hands and were certain they could fit any glove. When the racing team came by the Tenou garage, Michiru recognized the motorcycle hiding in plain sight instantly. She asked to see all the would-be racers in the shop and asked who the motorcycle belonged to. Haruka was on the roof with the wind and the cats and her stepmother immediately knew Haruka was the racer who’d won all three races. She locked the door to the roof and informed Michiru that the motorcycle had been sold to them the day before but both of her daughters were accomplished riders. 

Both of the sisters tried on the racing glove and it was too big, too small, too anything that the magic could do to keep their hands from fitting the glove. On the roof, Haruka realized that the Kaiou racing team had arrived and that she was locked out from taking her turn trying on the glove. She held the wind close to herself and whispered:

“I wish that time would cease to tick  
So that I could some asses kick.”

But nothing happened, for Pluto had already stopped time thrice for her and this time Haruka had to save herself. She took the catways, letting the flow of wind guide her which direction to go and willing herself to be faster to keep moving until she was there, racing the race team to get to the ground before they were gone. 

By the time she reached the ground it looked as though the racing team had gone until Michiru stepped out from a nearby car with a mirror in her hand. The stepmother told Michiru that Haruka was just a dirty Greaseputtel and couldn’t possibly have been a racer, she had been home all through the festival and had not left the shop. Michiru asked if this was true and Haruka smiled and told the heiress that only by stopping time and running on the wind would she have been able to go to the festival and race without her stepmother knowing. 

When she tried on the glove, it fit as though it had been made for her. Michiru had already seen her face in the mirror; she’d known who she was looking for and after wiping a bit of grease from Haruka’s cheek she could indeed see that she was the racer. Haruka’s father was delighted and Haruka became the new sponsored racer for the Kaiou racing team. But more importantly, she found the person who could see past the Greaseputtel and help her be her own princess. 

So not every fairy tale begins in a mechanics shop, but this one did. And they also lived happily ever after.


End file.
